Software Developer vs Software Engineer

midnightcaller said:
Traditionally , engineer was associated with civil , mechanical, electrical, aeronautical, chemical.

Developer or programmer was associated with software.

Recently, engineer became associated with software.

it’s only a label. To put you into a little box.

As most have said, It all depends on what you are paid.
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Yes and no.. it’s in the word.. engineering ie “branch of science and technology concerned with the design, building, and use of engines, machines, and structures.”

This can be extended to all manner of machine hence the variety of engineers ie biomedical, software, electromechanical, civil, mechanical, industrial, aeronautical etc.

They all cover vastly different subject matter but the approach and how they cover a variety of aspects in delivery of a soln remains the same ironically.
 
To call yourself an engineer of any type you had to have qualified in a field and the qualification had to have been recognised by a certified body. Now any a***hole with a keyboard and a GitHub account can call themselves an engineer.
 
zippy said:
To call yourself an engineer of any type you had to have qualified in a field and the qualification had to have been recognised by a certified body. Now any a***hole with a keyboard and a GitHub account can call themselves an engineer.
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In the UK if you fix manholes you are called a manhole engineer
 
I never thought of myself as a Software developer, as I was self taught, I was just fixing problems with a willingness and know-how to Google it and read stuff. Then I received a pay slip that listed my title as Software Developer, guess it must be then, it's right there in black and white!
I learnt from there that titles matter, well more the pay that goes with the title matters. :D

Edit: I was also sort of surprised by the way Senior and Junior is used in the field of dev. Coming from a technical industry, in my mind a Senior is someone who has at least 10 years of experience. In dev it just meant this person could be trusted to get things done without supervision.
 
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I always asked myself the same question, what is the difference it's all the same right... well apparently not. After working my way up to being a manager of a small dev team, here is my thoughts on it.

A software engineer is at a much higher level than a Developer and Programmer. A software engineer can sit in a meeting with a client and by the time they are done talking already have the solution mapped out in their head and possibly even started coding (zoom or team meetings work for this). They can do this and keep the architecture in mind that the Software Architect has developed.

A developer in it's true form will be at best able to take the design that the engineer did and code it and at worst make such a complete hash of it that the engineer has to step in and save the project from becoming an abortion.

The programmer who is normally at the lower end of the scales in terms of experience will take one look at the design, try to do something but ask a million questions to the engineer until they are eventually removed from the project due to incompetence. They are also the ones you can't trust near the production system as most likely they will bring the world crumbling down.

Sincerely the very tired Engineer who has to work 18 hours a day to fix the incompetence and save the company's bacon.
P.S We won't be hiring any more programmers and developers that's for sure.

*This is my personal opinion and not a reflection of every scenario and no harm is meant.
 
SaucePlz said:
Edit: I was also sort of surprised by the way Senior and Junior is used in the field of dev. Coming from a technical industry, in my mind a Senior is someone who has at least 10 years of experience. In dev it just meant this person could be trusted to get things done without supervision.
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Senior and junior titles differ from actually being a senior or Junior. Essentially the time based senior/Junior thing is an old archaic way of doing things. Some get a Senior title in three to four years and it's not based on merit. At the end of the day it should all be based on merit rather than time. Imagine being a senior after 10 years but still not being able to do the basics?
 
Stefan.dl said:
I always asked myself the same question, what is the difference it's all the same right... well apparently not. After working my way up to being a manager of a small dev team, here is my thoughts on it.

A software engineer is at a much higher level than a Developer and Programmer. A software engineer can sit in a meeting with a client and by the time they are done talking already have the solution mapped out in their head and possibly even started coding (zoom or team meetings work for this). They can do this and keep the architecture in mind that the Software Architect has developed.

A developer in it's true form will be at best able to take the design that the engineer did and code it and at worst make such a complete hash of it that the engineer has to step in and save the project from becoming an abortion.

The programmer who is normally at the lower end of the scales in terms of experience will take one look at the design, try to do something but ask a million questions to the engineer until they are eventually removed from the project due to incompetence. They are also the ones you can't trust near the production system as most likely they will bring the world crumbling down.

Sincerely the very tired Engineer who has to work 18 hours a day to fix the incompetence and save the company's bacon.
P.S We won't be hiring any more programmers and developers that's for sure.

*This is my personal opinion and not a reflection of every scenario and no harm is meant.
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You are over four months too late for April fools.
 
SaucePlz said:
Edit: I was also sort of surprised by the way Senior and Junior is used in the field of dev. Coming from a technical industry, in my mind a Senior is someone who has at least 10 years of experience. In dev it just meant this person could be trusted to get things done without supervision.
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I think intermediate is the term that describes your meaning of senior.
 
Genisys said:
Senior and junior titles differ from actually being a senior or Junior. Essentially the time based senior/Junior thing is an old archaic way of doing things. Some get a Senior title in three to four years and it's not based on merit. At the end of the day it should all be based on merit rather than time. Imagine being a senior after 10 years but still not being able to do the basics?
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I know and agree that time spent doing something is not necessarily an accurate way of measuring level of competence, I was just describing my experience.
DA-LION-619 said:
I think intermediate is the term that describes your meaning of senior.
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Indeed, but no one was employed as an Intermediate developer, it was either senior, junior or intern.
 
In the UK (late 90's/Early 2000's at least) the job description tended to be industry specific - technology orientated industries (Defence, Aerospace, Rail, Automotive, Communications etc) the job title would be Software Engineer whereas in business orientated industries (Finance, Insurance, Banking etc.) the title would be 'Analyst Programmer.'

The term Engineer is also a bit more of a job title in the UK than here in SA and doesn't necessarily imply membership of a professional body although it usually implies a degree or maybe a Higher National Diploma in some cases. Qualifying as a Chartered Engineer is the UK equivalent of what most South Africans would understand as a professional engineer.
 
Stefan.dl said:
I always asked myself the same question, what is the difference it's all the same right... well apparently not. After working my way up to being a manager of a small dev team, here is my thoughts on it.

A software engineer is at a much higher level than a Developer and Programmer. A software engineer can sit in a meeting with a client and by the time they are done talking already have the solution mapped out in their head and possibly even started coding (zoom or team meetings work for this). They can do this and keep the architecture in mind that the Software Architect has developed.

A developer in it's true form will be at best able to take the design that the engineer did and code it and at worst make such a complete hash of it that the engineer has to step in and save the project from becoming an abortion.

The programmer who is normally at the lower end of the scales in terms of experience will take one look at the design, try to do something but ask a million questions to the engineer until they are eventually removed from the project due to incompetence. They are also the ones you can't trust near the production system as most likely they will bring the world crumbling down.

Sincerely the very tired Engineer who has to work 18 hours a day to fix the incompetence and save the company's bacon.
P.S We won't be hiring any more programmers and developers that's for sure.

*This is my personal opinion and not a reflection of every scenario and no harm is meant.
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I agree with this.
 
SaucePlz said:
Indeed, but no one was employed as an Intermediate developer, it was either senior, junior or intern.
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Makes sense, if you never started with one then you’d never need to Google the job spec to replace one.

krycor said:
I agree with this.
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Confession is good for the soul — d'Agapeyeff: - but bad for your career. (Software Engineering, NATO, 1969).
 
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There is guy who put the brick on a wall - he is developer. There is guy who created plan of building - he is engineer. When developer grows, he starts understand what and why was used in a solution - then he become engineer.
Ah... forget, it's a joke! You become engineer when another engineer bites you! :))
 
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